


Let Us Be Lovers (We'll Marry Our Fortunes Together)

by SegaBarrett



Category: Bates Motel (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brother-Sister Relationships, F/M, Greyhound Buses, Implied/Referenced Incest, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-14 22:26:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9206459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SegaBarrett/pseuds/SegaBarrett
Summary: Norma and Caleb run away together.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nea/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I do not own Bates Motel, and I make no money from this.
> 
> A/N: Title is from "America" by Simon and Garfunkel.

Norma tilted back her head and yawned, stretching out her arms and nearly clipping Caleb in the head as she awoke.

“Where are we?” she murmured, though she knew the immediate answer – they were crammed in two seats of a Greyhound bus, with Norma in the aisle so she could run to the bathroom every few miles, though the window might be better under other circumstances. 

Circumstances.

“We’re in Indiana,” Caleb told her. “They said we’ll have a rest stop soon.”

Norma rubbed at her eyes, still not sure that they’d really done it, taken off together right under their parents’ nose.

“What do we do at the rest stop?” Norma asked dryly, figuring that the amount of time they would have to “rest” would likely be minimal. What they might have time to do, unfortunately, was get caught.

But by who, exactly? Had their parents called the police on the two of them (or on Norma, as Caleb was well and clear to go anywhere he wanted)? Or had they not cared?

Norma wasn’t sure which of those scenarios was more depressing. 

She did know, however, that there was no way she could go back, not now. Not since that damned blue line. They would have figured it out, found out some way (paid attention for the first time in a long time when it was far too late), and then they – then he – would have swiftly ended Caleb’s life.

Norma was mad at her brother (was that what the feeling was? They all seemed so jumbled together these days), but she needed him, now more than ever. Now, if they were going to pull this crazy plan off.

She still thought it was kind of a stupid plan, really. Unnecessary. 

It would have been normal for a pregnant teenager to move in with her older brother, wouldn’t it? She’d be looked at kind of like a charity case, of course, but most people wouldn’t go that direction with it. Or would they? Maybe anyone in the world could see it when they looked at the two of them standing together.

Norma scratched at her arms. She’d been so damn itchy lately that she wanted to cry. Everything ached, itched, hurt. Whoever had come up with pregnancy had been a horrible person, and Norma wished she could kill them slowly.

“Caleb,” she mumbled quietly. It had all happened so fast. She had asked him to stop – her voice had been wavering, quivering, and she’d been shaking – and he had. But it had been too late and now… now, what did it all mean?

Maybe she should have stayed behind – but what was there left for her in Akron?

What was there anywhere for her but Caleb?

“Norma Louise,” he whispered back. Her brother’s blue eyes were hidden beneath his eyelids, now; he was as tired as she had ever seen him. He didn’t like to sleep much at home, didn’t seem to trust the process.

What were they supposed to do once they got to Chicago, anyway? They didn’t have any money or know anyone in that city.  
Caleb hadn’t seemed worried, however. He always seemed to have a plan. Norma hoped that much was true. Even the fake names terrified her. What if that was illegal? It would lead whoever was looking down a rabbit hole to find the real secret… the worst secret.

She stood up, wavering over the seat as she made her way back to the bathroom, nearly tripping over someone in the aisle behind her. 

“Watch where you’re going, lady!” the guy grumbled.

“I’m pregnant, loser!” Norma snapped back, continuing on her way.

She locked the door behind her and let out a huge sigh. That had felt good, snapping at that man like that. Sure, he hadn’t totally deserved it (maybe) but it had felt so freeing to just let loose on somebody, to take something back.

She was going to be living miles away with her brother, who was also the father of her child, also her best friend and her… boyfriend? What did this all make him, exactly? And how was she meant to figure any of that out? How were they… together?

Norma took a deep breath and let it out again. She decided that when she walked out the door, she would be someone new. Someone who knew what she was doing. Someone who had her life figured out. Someone who was ready to raise this child that grew inside her.

She opened the door and stepped out, walked back and sat back down next to her brother – boyfriend? Husband?

If she was someone new, now, then he would have to be as well. He could be anyone sitting beside her. 

Anyone who, she hoped against hope, would always love her.

“Are you okay?” Caleb asked. “You were in there a while… Feeling sick again?”

Norma forced a nervous smile.

“I’m fine. So… what… when we get to Chicago, what are we going to do? What’s our plan?”

“I’ve got some money, and we’ll rent a room. Live there a while until I can get another job.”

“What about me? I can work too, Caleb. I’m not exactly a fragile flower over here.”

He squeezed her hand gently.

“After you have the baby, then maybe. But for right now we need you to see doctors and stuff… eat the right food, you know? Be… healthy.”

Norma laughed.

It was very normal advice, in a very abnormal situation.

“I guess all that’s left is get a nice house in the suburbs.” She put her head on his shoulder. She had almost been out of it – he had listened, he had listened, he’d said he understood, but now what did it all mean? – almost been back at a normal life. But maybe this was what normal was now.

Normal Norma, she thought.

“Some swings in the backyard,” Caleb told her. “Maybe a cat.” 

Norma curled up her nose.

“Do we have to get a cat? They shed everywhere.” She let her eyes slip shut. “Wake me up when we get to Chicago.”


End file.
